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V Gangadhar

Ships and boats are very much in the news these days. In Bombay, the vigorous monsoon led to the sinking of a cargo ship carrying sulphur. Zen Dost, another cargo ship which ran aground off the Bandra coast, still lies in the same place. The tugs, both local and brought from Singapore, could not move the ship.

Every morning, as I go for my morning walk, I watch the Zen Dost looking dirty and pathetic. Knowing the people of Bombay, I am certain that the ship will soon be taken over by a couple of slum lords, who will make pots of money selling portions of the ship to slum residents in need of better accommodation.

Meanwhile, the Indian navy's first-ever aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, which had been mothballed after an illustrious career, is likely to be purchased by the Maharashtra government for Rs 750 million and converted into a maritime museum. I can visualise the Shiv Sena boss, Bal Thackeray, dressing up like Admiral Nelson and boarding Vikrant to hoist the Sena flag! The state is, no doubt, short of funds, but I am sure the moolah required for this venture would be obtained once the Sena chief gives his green signal.

Ships, particularly the big passenger liners, have always fascinated me. While we lived in Fort Cochin, our official home (the collector's bungalow) almost touched the backwaters. When we were new to the place, we were thrilled by the passage of large and small ships within hailing distance from the bungalow.

As soon as the ships were sighted, we would drop whatever we were doing and rush out screaming, "Kappal varadhu (the ship is coming)." During the day, we would wave to the passengers who had lined up to watch the shore. The ships which passed our bungalow at night were always brilliantly lit; it was a wonderful sight.

Having a father who was the collector of the region helped. Quite often, we visited the ships which docked at the Cochin harbour terminus and Willingdon island. Ships came there from all over the world -- they belonged to the US-based President line and the Japan-based Maru line; we even saw ships with unpronounceable names that came from places like the Soviet Union, Hungary, Iceland and so on.

The ships which carried fishmeal and sulphur stank to high heavens. But the big American passenger liners like President Monroe, President Polk and President Roosvelt were clean, bright and full of friendly people who filled my pockets with foreign chocolates which I took to school and distributed to some of my best friends.

There was something very appealing about the immaculate white uniforms worn by the sailors. Hollywood added to the glamour by producing numerous films with the American navy as the background. Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and other Hollywood greats sang and danced and chased girls in these films. It was an era of great musicals and the US Navy provided the right kind of atmosphere.

Fiction and mythology had its own share of famous ships. One of the most enthralling books I read in my boyhood was the adventures of Jason and his followers in their chase for the golden fleece. Their ship was the Argosy and the men were called Argonauts.

Another famous fiction ship was the Hispaniola from R L Stevenson's Treasure Island. I read and re-read the thrilling account featuring the boy wonder, Jim Hawkins and the lovable villain, Long John Silver whose parrot was named after the most notorious pirate of those days, Captain Flint.

If Hispaniola brought cheer to my young life, the same could not be said of the Pequod, the ship on which the grim Captain Ahab chased that monster white whale, Moby Dick. Reading the book was a frightening experience, though John Huston's movie starring Gregory Peck as Ahab did not do justice to the evil and violence portrayed in the novel.

Ships figured in poems too. Remember the ancient mariner who killed an albatross on board his ship and had to pay the penalty for his sin. How many times did I repeat those lines...

"The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,

The furrow followed free;

We were the first that ever burst

Into that silent sea."

World War literature had its own quota of great ships. The German pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee, successfully menaced Allied shipping. So did the huge warship, S S Bismarck, which was later sunk by British war ships.

And then, there is that legendary ship, the Titanic, which held the honour being the largest ship ever made. How could the 'unsinkable' Titanic fall victim to an iceberg? She was followed by the equally famous Ile De France, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth; the latter are now used for pleasure cruises.

The last of the great passenger ships were the S S Chusan and S S Stratheied which carried the English and Australian cricketers on their cricket tours. They never passed though Cochin, preferring to halt in Bombay so that the prayers could relax at the Brabourne Stadium and pay some friendly cricket.

Illustration: Laura Fernandes